Webinar recap: 6 steps to creating a culture of engagement

In last week’s webinar, “Creating a Culture of Employee Engagement,” we heard from Christopher Rice and Mary Ann Masarech, two authors of The Engagement Equation: Leadership Strategies for an Inspired Workforce. This Human Resources Executive webinar, sponsored by Achievers, delivered actionable advice for creating a corporate culture that enables engagement.

The charismatic duo walked listeners through an effective strategy to creating engagement in the workplace. As Mary Ann emphasized, engagement surveys do not an engagement program make. As she put it, “Weighing the cow does not make it heavier.”

Christopher and Mary Ann both stressed the importance of actively creating a culture of engagement, not just letting it grow like a culture in a petri dish. If you aren’t actively creating a culture, you likely won’t be happy with the one that develops. So then, how does one properly “grow” a culture?

Christopher and Mary Ann outlined the six steps to a successful culture of employee engagement:

1. Build Commitment

Define what you will accomplish and why in order to get all levels on board with the new program. The “what” needs to be actionable and pragmatic and the “why” should focus on metrics as well as great days at work.

2. Create Engagement Champions

Creating experts and leaders to champion the engagement cause, you are more likely to succeed. Employees with credibility across different functions, a belief in the business, and the ability to consult will get a wider selection of the workforce mobilized.

3. Equip People

Engagement needs to be a shared responsibility and a daily priority. The individual, manager, and executive all need to be invested and communicate. By targeting strategic populations and training your staff, you can empower your people and build culture.

4. Align Practices

All sectors of human resources need to be aligned to your stated goal and desired corporate culture. That means performance management, training and career development, internal communications, branding and all other activities need to be working together.

5. Measure

Less Less More More! Mary Ann’s expression advises using fewer survey items, less focus on external benchmarking, more frequent surveys, and more strategy for an effective measurement strategy. Surveys don’t create engagement, but they are critical for tracking progress of a robust program.

6. Take Action!

The best intentions have been lost to action planning. Choose two or three things that will make an impact and get them done. Keep committee action items within the sphere of influence of the committee members and be sure to spread the work.

Finally, engagement is an individualized equation, so talk to your people one-on-one.